The New Demographic: Palin Democrats
September 12th, 2008 at 01:05pm Matt Margolis
Here’s an interesting story point out that Barack Obama’s support from women is bleeding away.
Jessica Goral had pretty much made up her mind two weeks ago: she was going to vote for Barack Obama. Then John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate.
“She empowers a lot of women,” says Mrs Goral, a mother of two in Macomb County - a national bellwether in the battleground state of Michigan and an area rich in white, working class swing voters who will play a major role in deciding November’s election.
[...]
“Sarah Palin is a role model. She’s made me more likely to vote Republican.”
If Mr Obama should be in any doubt how gravely the Alaska governor’s vice-presidential nomination has imperiled his White House ambitions, then a day spent in Macomb County will make this clear: white women who voted for John Kerry in 2004 are suddenly deserting him on masse.
This is Mount Clemens, in the heart of Macomb County, where the pollster Stan Greenberg first identified the phenomenon of the “Reagan Democrats” – the working class, socially conservative, traditionally Democratic whites who deserted the party for Ronald Reagan in 1980. It is fair to say that this critical swing group now has a new name: Palin Democrats.
This is why John McCain is not only surging in national polls, but in battleground state polls as well. This is why Barack Obama, again, is “taking the gloves” off and blasting McCain for not being computer savvy, instead of focusing on the issues.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008
21 Comments
1. GOP4ME | September 12th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
There is still a long way to go and we are not there yet, but my, what a difference a couple of weeks can make…
Has anybody heard from Biden lately (I mean other than admitting Barack chose the wrong running mate)?
2. Kevin Patrick | September 12th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Great find.
Obama went for “politics as usual” Joe Biden and McCain went for the maverick game-changer Palin. She’s creating new demographic shifts that transcend both sides electoral models.
The Democrats attacks only further innoculate Palin as they hold her to a standard as if she presented herself as “Saint Sarah” when all America wants is “Sarah Barracuda.”
And all the scrutiny in the world reveals her to be someone more and more families can relate with. Which makes the Democrats get more and more desperate in their attacks.
Just a brilliant pick!
3. phnx | September 12th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
It looks like our leftist trolls are waiting for their talking points since there has been a distinct lack of leftist blather in the face of all of this bad news for them. I think Hell may have frozen over.
4. Retired Spook | September 12th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
phnx, I was thinking the same thing. The talking points fax at the DNC must be jammed again.
5. neocon | September 12th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
The talking points fax at the DNC must be jammed again.
Don’t they know how to e-mail? Or use a computer?
6. Moveoff | September 12th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
“Palin under fire after grudging U-turn on global warming
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
The Guardian, Saturday September 13 2008
Sarah Palin, who presents herself as half of a Republican team of maverick reformers, yesterday edged away from her outmoded views on climate change, conceding for the first time that the problem might be man-made.
The admission from Palin, during an interview with ABC television, brings the Republican running mate into line with the views of the party’s presidential nominee, John McCain. “I’m attributing some of man’s activities to potentially causing some of the changes in the climate right now,” she told ABC’s Charlie Gibson.
The statement contradicted Palin’s assertions within the past year that she did not believe global warming is a result of human activity. The Alaska governor strenuously denied expressing such doubts in her ABC interview, but she told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper last December: “I’m not an Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalist blaming the changes in our climate on human activity.”
Even so, yesterday’s acknowledgment of a human component in climate change was grudging - and Palin still supports drilling in the Arctic wilderness preserve, which McCain opposes.
She also suggested that agreeing on the causes of climate change bore no relation to finding a solution, and left open the possibility that the phenomenon was merely cyclical. “Regardless of the reason for climate change, whether it’s entirely, wholly caused by man’s activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet … John McCain and I agree that we gotta do something about it.”
The exchange came during a series of three interviews Palin granted to ABC, her only exposure to the national media since McCain chose her as his running mate a fortnight ago.”
So sorry about your candidates. However, there are plenty of fine, honest and notably uncorrupt independent candidates to choose from.
7. neocon | September 12th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Global Warming is a myth MoveOn.
There has benn no measurable temperature increases in ten years and many experts are now predicting a cooling period due to sunspot activity.
Hard to believe you’re still prepetuating the myth. Palin is right and is only now speaking in measured tones because of her position and McCains buy-in into the myth, one item of which I disagree with him about.
Despite that, McCain/Palin is the far, far better alternative to the MoveOn.Org, cocaine using, plagerizing and pandering lawyer duo.
They’re a disgrace.
8. neocon | September 12th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Moveon,
Here’s a couple of articles you should familiarize yourself with.
http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/200807/monckton.cfm
http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/aps-edito-reverses-position-on-global-warming-cites-considerable-presence-of-skeptics/
9. Wellington | September 12th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
As McCain’s crowds dwindle down when the celebrity is not there, I’m sure we’ll see more of this…(it’s kind of sad to see the old geezer out there by himself isn’t it?)
http://www.womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
It’s obvious the American right loves them some celebrity.
No matter how dangerous and foolhardy the decision.
10. neocon | September 12th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Let’s see. On one hand we have an admitted cocaine user, community organizer, inexperienced lawyer who chose an admitted plagiarizing lawyer who has been wrong on nearly every foreign policy decision, and of which both of whom are NEVER confronted their own party.
On the other hand we have a POW war hero, seasoned and experienced law maker who has successfully reached across the aisle on several occasions, who chose a very successful Governor who has successfully confronted her own party on corruption after being a two term mayor.
Let me guess Welly, you support the druggy and the plagiarizer, right?
11. ATG | September 12th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Hey neocon, I might remind you that our country has been run by a former cocaine user for the last 8 years.
I think the claim that Obama is the one not focusing on the issues is a joke, by the way. Anybody who is willing to leave open some mental bandwidth to watch and absorb the news rather than just filling it up with mindless blog posts like this one will remember that in the last week McCain has accused Barack of calling Palin a pig and sponsoring comprehensive sex education for six year olds, actively turning the national debate away from the issues, which McCain knows he can’t win on (hence why he made little progress in any polls until he picked an interesting personality as his VP and went absurdly negative). This is all fact, people. Just because you think Sarah Palin is cool for hunting, doesn’t mean you should shut your brains off and start swallowing whole every lie the Republican party throws your way.
12. Observer20 | September 13th, 2008 at 12:03 am
ATG,
You know, if you’re so sincere that you believe Obama can win on the issues, why didn’t he agree to forum-like discussions between he and McCain this election season? For someone who says he is confident on the issues, he sure does like to not talk directly with his adversary about them.
Now that I think about it, McCain and Obama haven’t had much time to actually appear together at all. Hopefully when the debates start we’ll see who is actually in touch with the American people on the issues, and not just brand rhetoric about who is.
13. cam | September 13th, 2008 at 12:17 am
neocon,
You supported Bush for 8 years depite his past history of cocaine use. Yet, now that becomes an issue for you. What happened?
14. cam | September 13th, 2008 at 12:34 am
neocon,
And why do you continue to mock community organizers. Perhaps a better term would be desciple of Christ. He was truly doing God’s work, following the teachings of the Bible. But like the the Pharisees, you mock. Of course, it is possible you are not a “true” believer as I have noticed that, unlike some of the people on this site, you do not base most of your arguments on religion.
15. Faceplant | September 13th, 2008 at 7:37 am
So, can you please tell me which on of the latest McCain ads “focus’s on the issues”? Is it the one that portray Obama as a wolf stalking it’s prey? Or is it the one that compares him to Paris Hilton?
16. Observer20 | September 13th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Faceplant,
I’d say it’s the one that alleges that he supported a bill that promoted sex education for kindergarteners.
Although really the extent to that sex education and the extent to which he supported it are in a grayish area.
17. kimberly4victory | September 13th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Hey beef, I can put together a “blog” like that, too. Funny how it’s not a typical blog where users can comment and back and forth. I smell an Obama plant.
Signed:
Kimberly W. from Arizona
18. kimberly4victory | September 13th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Sarah Palin, Small-Town America, and the Democrats’ Ongoing Arrogance Problem
Small towns provide real-world experience—as well as electoral victories
There was a map of the United States produced after the 2000 and 2004 elections, showing the presidential campaign victories on a county-by-county basis in blue and red. America was a sea of red, with clusters of blue for the most part relegated to major urban areas in the East, West, and scattered in between. The Democratic Party is an urban one, focused largely on urban problems and constituencies.
But in order to win in 2008, Democratic leaders knew that they needed to woo small-town America. The time was ripe, the theory went, with an unpopular president, an unpopular Congress, and a Republican Party that had somehow lost its way. So the Democratic machine went to work, bringing Barack Obama to places like Montana, hoping that he could build on that dissatisfaction and show that the Democratic Party cares about Main Streets across the U.S.A., no matter how rural or sparsely populated.
Which is why the attack on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and her prior experience of being the mayor of a town of 9,000, is both strange and troubling. The 2000 and 2004 electoral maps show, and political experience confirms, that America is a place of small towns. So casting aspersions on those who live and govern in Small-Town America seems to be, well, a stupid way of courting those voters.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2008/09/12/sarah-palin-small-town-america-and-the-democrats-ongoing-arrogance-problem.html
19. kimberly4victory | September 13th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATOR ENDORSES JOHN MCCAIN
MANCHESTER, NH — The McCain-Palin campaign today announced that New Hampshire State Representative Doreen Howard, a Democratic legislator from Newmarket, has endorsed John McCain for president. Representative Howard previously supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy.
“As a lifelong Democrat who enthusiastically backed Hillary Clinton in the primaries, I am now supporting John McCain. Like Senator Clinton, McCain values the importance of public service. Both Clinton and McCain put country first and that’s critically important,” said Howard. “John McCain and Sarah Palin are mavericks who have proven they can deliver real reform. As our nation faces challenges at home and abroad, Americans will benefit from their experience, judgment and strong leadership.”
Elected in 2006, Representative Howard is a member of the State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee. She represents Newmarket and Newfields.
Representative Howard supported John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.
This is just another example of how this election is not about party, it’s about country. People are willing to vote against the Dem party candidate if they believe the other candidate is better suited for the job.
20. Danish Artist | September 13th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
plantedface, mindless lemming Obamaton….
Can you tell me what is the latest Obama ad about the issues?
Why hasn’t Obama stuck with the issues since the convention?
Can you tell me why the latest attack ads by Obama does nothing to solve the problems of this country?
Can you tell me why Obama has shifted his campaign from “saviour image” to “politics as usual image”?
Wow, you are truly a mindless fool if you think Obama is running a campaign on the issues. He has lost all focus since his convention.
Cam,
being a community organizer to a group like ACORN is far from “disciple of Christ”.
Uh, to you liberal leftists, cocaine use, now matter how long ago or recent, was a big issue in the last two elections. If not just cocaine, what about crack cocaine and other drugs? Why is it not an issue now?
It’s is amazing how blindly believe the BS you are being shoveled day-in and day-out.
21. Moveoff | September 15th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Why argue with Neocon? He doesn’t actually read your posts. Or your name. My name is Moveoff, a mockery of an obscure socialist organization rocketed into prominence by the ineptitude of a Republican President.
I posted an excerpt from the UK Guardian to remind you all that McCain and Palin are insufficiently doctrinaire on the subject of global warming to get your vote. Then, I suggested that you find an honest independent candidate who shares the views of this website.
Neocon’s response? A bunch of “Global Warming is a Myth” links. Like I needed convincing. Neocon isn’t paying attention. He’s ready to vote McCain all the way.